Unknowns In Life
by xXBalorBabeXx
Summary: A normal night descended into terror when she couldn't get out of the building. Amanda didn't know what she had gotten into but she knew that it was best to keep quiet about it. (Co-written with Cry-Of-A-Warp-Engine)
1. Alone

The 2015 SummerSlam pay per view and NXT Taping had just finished up and Amanda was packed up and grabbed her duffel bag to go meet up with Finn in the garage.

But as she walked towards the back doors, she realised how quiet it was… and took a deep breath.

"Okay… it's just late, that's it." Amanda responded to herself before she reached the door and tried to open it… only for it to not budge. "Damn it! Seth, I'm gonna kill you!" She hissed angrily, thinking that Seth was pranking her and grabbing her phone to text Finn.

 _'Locked in by the northern side of the arena, can you pull the car around? I'll switch the flashlight app on so you can see me.'_

 _'Will do but you'll probably have to see if Marcus has the keys, there's no shoulder barging those doors, all solid metal. Usually is in his office in the basement level I think.'_ Finn responded after a few seconds, referring to the arena's main janitor, engineer, all around wrench jockey.

"Marcus, where are you?!" Amanda called out as she went looking for him, finding her way to the nearby cargo elevator and going down in it. The elevator being all behind the scenes stuff wasn't exactly kept to what could be considered 'publically presentable' and moved with just as loud cables as the doors were when they opened, letting her out into the large darkened storage room.

 _'Okay, just… find him quickly.'_ Amanda thought to herself.

Usually she wasn't the first to be afraid of things like the dark, but being in the basement, knowing the room was way bigger than she could actually see and the time being past midnight made her feel generally uneasy about being down here.

Exploring further brought her to a set of double doors, leading to a corridor which was lit with old, yellowed lights. Just as she reached her hands to the two handles though, she heard a noise behind her, a sort of squeak that reminded her of a bottle cork being twisted before it was yanked out.

"Hey, Marcus, you in here?" Amanda called out, stepping back into the room and taking out her phone, using the flashlight to see… and jumping back in fright the moment she did, seeing three of the old mannequins stood there looking at her. "Fuck… almost gave me a heart a…" She stopped and went dead silent as she'd moved to one side, the three heads turning with her, still staring. Then slowly starting to step towards her, quickly making her back up with equal pace.

Amanda closed the door, starting to panic even worse than she ever had… and then jumped as a hand rested on her arm, her turning to see a woman, taller than her with chocolate brown hair of about the same length tied into a bun.

"Don't go down there…" Amanda responded frantically.

"Ah, was kinda hoping you wouldn't say that…" The woman responded with an accent Amanda had heard a lot on her trips to Manchester, turning quickly and Amanda jumping again as a loud crash came from one of the smaller doors in the corridor. "Run!" She shouted as the door was smashed down, Amanda catching a glimpse of more mannequins on the other side. The two darted along the corridor, mannequins quickly walking behind them as they did. The woman led Amanda to their left, into a smaller secondary cargo elevator where she frantically pressed the button, but not before a mannequin arm blocked the door from closing and became trapped between the two halves.

"Come… right… here!" The woman grunted as she grabbed the arm under her right and yanked on it several times, before the arm became severed with a loud 'pop' and the door closed. She threw the arm to Amanda, who quickly caught it. "See? Plastic." She spoke while turning back to the buttons.

"What the hell is going on in here?!" Amanda replied, her heart pounding so loudly that the other woman could hear it.

"They're plastic, living plastic. They were after me, you got in the way, why were you down there at this time anyway?" The woman responded.

"I… was looking for Marcus." Amanda responded, trying to relax herself as the woman looked at her. "Janitor guy?" She added.

"Marcus is dead." The woman replied as the elevator stopped and the doors opened, stepping out of them and taking a small device out of her long knitted jacket, tapping a few buttons on it before holding it up against the elevator buttons, which began to spark and break. "Come on then, quickly now." She said to Amanda as she headed down the hallway towards the metal doors at the end, these doors one more over from the ones Amanda had been at previously.

"Marcus is… they killed him?" Amanda asked as the woman used the device on the doors, which unlocked as she tapped the large dome end to the keyhole.

"Ruthless creatures. And that's why I'm gonna blow the building up." The woman answered, holding up a device which looked to Amanda like a form of C4 explosive. "So go on home, go have some… I don't know, biscuits and gravy, whatever calms you down. And don't tell anyone about me because if you do, you'll get them killed." She said as she guided Amanda outside, then closed the door behind her… moments before opening it again and peering out. "I'm Martha Williams by the way, what's your name?"

"Uh… M-Amanda." Amanda responded, the rapid succession of events causing her thought process to be scattered.

"Nice to meet you 'Manda. Run for your life!" Martha responded, holding up the C4 at the end before closing the door again.

Amanda took off towards the rented Equinox and her and Finn held each other before they got in and he drove off… and he looked at her, seeing tears running down her face and lightly rubbing her left arm.

"You okay? Seems like the darkness got to you a bit…" Finn began to ask, stopping and hitting the brakes as he saw the orange glare in the mirror, quickly accompanied by the fiery glow coming from the explosion that burst through the windows of half the arena's main building.

"It's gone… all of it…" Amanda managed to say as Finn pulled over and hugged her.

He wanted to ask but he could tell she was too frightened to say what had happened.


	2. Try To Forget

_**August 4th 2015…**_

 _Amanda was reading over the script for the commentary segment she had during Stardust vs Zack Ryder._

 _"He may have made the galaxy his home but I'll pull Stardust back down to Earth…" Amanda said quietly, setting the script down. "They should have a part tonight where Cody removes the contacts and paint and ditches Stardust completely." She muttered, unaware that Cody was in the doorway._

 _"Oh really now? What, the same as how you think I ditched you for no reason?!" Cody responded._

 _"The walls have ears… yeah, I know you're growing frustrated with playing an alter ego brother to Goldust. And it doesn't feel right for you to verbally attack me, Cody." Amanda replied after turning around, Balor Club tank top tied at the back._

 _"No, it doesn't… and you know why we split, whether it was dead right or dead wrong. But it is frustrating… instead of having my own character, I'm a half copy of another one's fame!" Cody responded._

 _"Beats being the eternally young kid member of The Shield. I thought after suggesting the split of the group, I'd feel free again." Amanda muttered, Cody turning startled and Amanda looking back at him. "And let's face it, you wouldn't have stuck around if we had kids because you didn't want to." She said, Cody turning infuriated._

 _"You want to go there, do you?! Maybe I would have stuck around if you'd taken care of yourself, or even looked at treatments! But no, you just cried it out and gave up, and you say that I didn't care?!" Cody shouted in response._

 _"I did look into the treatments, you jackass! You know what happened when I tried one?! It caused my system to go haywire! Oh wait, you probably don't remember that because you were dick deep in Brandi while I was in the hospital!" Amanda yelled, Cody backhanding her._

 _Cody went for another blow to Amanda's face when he was grabbed from behind and tossed into the wall by Finn, who was absolutely furious at Cody putting his hands on Amanda._

 _"What was that, 'unfinished business' to handle?! How about you handle it with me, hey?! Go on, give me a good punch, I dare you to fucking try!" Finn yelled, opening his arms out in a 'vulnerable' motion but also in such a way that his limb spread put cover in front of Amanda._

 _Cody stormed out, slamming the door and Finn turned to Amanda. His hands cradled her face, seeing that Cody had hit the left side of her mouth._

 _"No limits or respect, that man." Finn muttered as he examined the bruising jawline._

 _"I miss the Cody that I grew up with." Amanda said quietly as Finn checked for blood where her tooth no longer was, finding none and grabbing a gel pack from the fridge. He pressed it to Amanda's jaw with his right hand, his left hand on the back of her head and fingers running through her tousled chestnut locks to massage the scalp._

 _But the Cody she knew was long gone…_

 **Present time** _ **, August 24th 2015…**_

At the hotel, Seth turned and saw them walk in… and saw how pale Amanda was, Finn helping her sit down.

"Just stay calm… you don't have to tell me if anyone else was in there, they're most likely gone. I just hope their family finds out." Finn responded as he brushed her hair back.

"One minute, I went looking for him and then…" Amanda tried to explain, Finn putting his leather _Balor Club_ jacket on her as she was shaking and sitting down, lightly rubbing her back. "I don't know if his family knows about what happened but they should. He's gone." She responded as Finn brushed her tears away and Seth walked over to them.

"What happened?" Seth asked.

"The Barclays Centre just blew up… Marcus didn't make it out alive." Finn explained, Seth turning startled and sitting down.

"We all just worked there a few hours ago, didn't anyone notice anything odd?" Seth responded.

"No… building was checked over and cleared before the event." Amanda replied… but Seth knew she was holding back on something.

"Mandy, I think you better start telling everything!" Seth responded.

"Seth, she's traumatized, back off!" Finn replied.

"If she's holding something back, she needs to explain it!" Seth responded.

"If you hadn't locked me in the building in the first place, I wouldn't have freaked out! Did you think that was funny, throwing me into complete panic?! What sick son of a bitch does that to someone?!" Amanda yelled after slapping Seth, who was completely bewildered as Finn held Amanda back.

Finn guided Amanda to the elevator and closed the doors, cradling her face in his hands.

"You're right. It's better if no one knows but… how did you figure out that someone else was in the building?" Amanda responded once she had calmed down.

"Because I know how you are when you try to protect me from something… everything's okay now, you're okay." Finn replied before wrapping his arms around her, the two holding each other. "The thought of something taking you away from me terrifies me." He whispered as they looked at each other.

"We stick together through anything." Amanda replied before Finn kissed her on the top of her head.

When they were in their room, Amanda took her makeup off and washed her face before pulling her clothes and bra off, leaving her in her black satin hiphugger panties… and putting one of Finn's _Balor Club_ shirts on, not bothering with pajama shorts as she climbed into the bed with Finn, who was in his black pajama pants as he pulled Amanda into his arms.

Amanda rested her head on Finn's torso, hearing his heart beating soundly under her right ear as Finn lightly stroked her hair and kissed her on the top of her head before they fell asleep.

Given that it was almost 2 in the morning, they couldn't stay up much longer.

It was when it was daylight that they heard a knock and then heard Cody.

"Hey, both of you need to wake up! What's this I keep hearing about an explosion?" Cody responded.

"Want me to make him go away?" Finn asked.

Amanda nodded, Finn standing up and walking to the door… he unlocked it and opened it, Cody looking at Amanda and then at Finn.

"We heard about it late last night, just like you. It's still early, can you let us be?" Finn replied.

"Raw's at the Manhattan Center tonight… look, if one of you knows anything-" Cody responded.

"We don't, we got back here late and crashed." Amanda replied, Cody startled by her attitude.

He was about to respond but a warning look from Finn made Cody change his mind and Cody left, Finn closing and locking the door and walking to Amanda.

"I'm surprised you didn't run away from him screaming 3 years ago, Darlin'." Finn replied after sitting down, his hands resting on her arms.

"Had I known what I was getting into with Cody, I would've." Amanda responded before they hugged.

She would just pretend that the chaos involving the walking mannequins and Martha was just a bad dream.


	3. Relax

_**June 30th 2005…**_

 _"You're just gonna pick up and go?! Your life is here!" Andre replied before Amanda turned back to him._

 _"My life will always be here but my dreams aren't! I'm sorry but-" Amanda responded, Andre gripping her right elbow. "You can't force me to stay… and I won't be your friend if you try to, Andre." She finished, moving her arm away from his hand and Andre turning incensed as Amanda put the last bag in John's Charger._

 _Without warning, he grabbed the 15 year old and kissed her… and she shoved him back and slapped him hard across the face._

 _"Don't ever do that to me again, what the hell's the matter with you?!" Amanda responded threateningly, Andre wiping the blood away from his split open upper lip and saw that she was wearing a cropped RKO Legend Killer shirt._

 _"Crushing on your brother's best friend, huh?!" Andre growled._

 _"That's none of your business!" Amanda said._

 _"Hey, you keep your trap shut!" The two heard… before Immy was over with them quickly and delivered a hard slap to Andre's side, him stumbling back. "Mandy, you go and you make yourself a brilliant and firm career. I'll keep in touch and try to keep control over this idiot, I don't know… occupy him in some experiments or something."_

 _"Thanks, Immy." Amanda responded, the two hugging before John headed over and he and Amanda got in the car and drove off… a distance away, John turned to Amanda, having seeing the blood on Andre's mouth._

 _"Didn't agree with you leaving, huh?" John questioned, Amanda shaking her head. "It won't be the first time… now you're getting involved with all this company and that, you're gonna learn very quickly that there's always gonna be someone who's against whatever you're doing. But you also learn to ignore them who tell you otherwise, it's your life and path, your fate. Not theirs to argue with."_

 _"It is but for as long as I can remember, he's always been a part of it… since we were little kids playing on the monkey bars." Amanda responded, John seeing a bite on her lower lip._

 _"I remember you tried looking at more of a relationship with him a couple years back… I know it didn't work out but you still stayed close, maybe Andre just doesn't know how to react to someone who's basically become his sister leaving home suddenly." John replied._

 _"Still hurt though, his teeth sinking in like that…" Amanda responded._

 _"Ah… now he's been watching too many movies. Old romance films have it that biting your partner's lip while you kiss, and drawing blood, usually means… well, dominance. Either he's desperate, or he figured that if he showed something like that towards you, you'd chose against leaving… or he was just smashed up in the head." John explained._

 _"Probably was." Amanda replied as Rebel Rebel by David Bowie started to play and John turned the volume up a bit._

 _Amanda started to relax and sing, John joining in as well… and seeing how happy she looked…_

 **Present time** _ **,**_ _ **August 24th 2015…**_

 _White Rabbit_ by Jefferson Airplane played through Amanda's white and gold earbuds as Finn was driving them to Manhattan after they got ready for the day… the traffic was at a standstill now because of last night's explosion and Finn saw that Amanda was tense, Finn lightly rubbing her left shoulder.

"It's okay, we'll be out of here soon." Finn replied, Amanda calming down slightly as the traffic started to move again.

She looked out the window as they were over the bridge, looking out at the water as _Georgia On My Mind_ by Ray Charles started to play.

And as much as they wanted to pretend that they weren't there at the arena last night just minutes before it blew up, Finn knew that he and Amanda couldn't keep a secret like that for long.

"What if Cody sends the cops in our direction?" Amanda asked after closing out Spotify and taking her earbuds out, Finn wrapping his right hand around her left one.

"He's vengeful but not that vengeful. And you're still shaken up." Finn replied.

"Those things… they were alive. Mannequins don't walk, let alone kill people." Amanda responded.

"Is that… what happened in there?" Finn questioned after a moment, having had to make a turn as Amanda had spoke.

"One of their arms got broken off in the elevator doors… clean off." Amanda responded as Finn pulled over and pulled her into his arms after they unbuckled.

"You were holding it as you ran to the car, threw it before getting in…" Finn remembered as he held her.

"Yeah… wherever it is now, I hope someone left it alone." Amanda replied as they looked at each other.

"Hopefully they have." Finn responded.

It was at the Manhattan Center that Amanda zipped her _Balor Club_ hoodie over her ring outfit and heard a knock at the door.

"Seth, if that's you, screw off!" Amanda replied before another knock sounded… and Amanda walked over.

She opened the door… only to scream in fright and take the plastic arm from Dean, throwing it down the hallway and Dean turning concerned.

"Keep that thing away from me, it tried to kill me!" Amanda yelled frantically, Dean closing the door after walking in and getting her to sit down before he rubbed his left hand up and down her back as she started hyperventilating… and Dean turned and saw Finn running into the room.

"I heard her yelling, what happened?" Finn questioned after closing the door, walking over and crouching down to Amanda before Dean left and quickly returned.

"Thought you left this behind by accident, found it in the hall leant against where you were staying." Dean answered, holding up the mannequin arm.

"The hotel? She dropped it at the… put that in the trash can." Finn responded, stopping Dean as he went to head for the one in the kitchen area. " _Outside_ trash can. Don't want that thing indoors."

Dean nodded and left as Finn held Amanda.

"I dropped it in the parking lot, what was it doing in the hotel?" Amanda responded quietly.

"Someone had to have moved it. Even if it was living plastic, I doubt a severed arm would be any less lifeless than a human one." Finn replied, though part of him felt that it was hoping rather than knowing.

Dean buried the arm as deep as he could in the dumpster, Seth walking over.

"Dean, what the hell's going on?" Seth asked.

"I found a mannequin arm, thought it was something that belonged to Mandy and when I returned it, she freaked out and screamed in terror, saying it tried to kill her." Dean explained after slamming the dumpster closed.

"A mannequin tried to kill her? Did she stop sleeping at night?" Seth asked.

"Seth, I've known Mandy since she was 16, she doesn't make things up like that… did you do something to her last night? I heard earlier that a door of the Barclays Center got locked while she was still in the building." Dean responded.

"I didn't lock her in there, alright? I don't know, maybe Finn slipped something in her drink!" Seth replied.

"Why would he drug Mandy? Cut the implications out, Seth, you're just sore about them being close." Dean responded.

"You're damn right I'm sore about it, I was there for her first!" Seth yelled.

"Actually, we've been in her life a lot longer than you two."

Seth and Dean then turned to see Andre and Immy… and they knew what Dean had thrown away.


End file.
